Knowledge Partners

August 12, 2010

"Holiday in India and pick up a degree too"

Meet the brain behind Koenig: Rohit Aggarwal, Founder and CEO, who is on his way to becoming a successful first-mover in what is being broadly called education tourism in India. Koenig has a modest turnover of Rs 20 crore with more than 1,500 students attending its courses annually, but it is a fast-growing one— Aggarwal's business has trebled in the past three years.

...Under its business model resting on training and hospitality, Koenig works as a one-stop shop for flight bookings, local transport, stay, training, hospitality and even helps its students tour India. While India's IT training companies play host to students from all across the world, tourism and hospitality is seldom bundled with training."We are as big a travel company as we are a trainer," says Aggarwal, elaborating no more than that the tourism services part of his business is "substantial".

...There are, meanwhile, others who are gingerly testing the waters that Koenig is charting today. For instance, IPSR Solutions in Kerala has ventured into tech training tourism over the last three years on a small scale. Students who come for educational tourism are offered a variety of packages. They have classes from Monday to Friday followed by weekend breaks at hill stations, on houseboat cruises and at beaches. "We have an average of 30 students per year under educational tourism head," says Managing Director and CEO Mendus Jacob.

Arun Natarajan is the Founder & CEO of Venture Intelligence, the leading provider of data and analysis on private equity, venture capital and M&A deals in India. View free samples of Venture Intelligence newsletters and reports. Email the author at arun@ventureintelligence.in